Dont change the ball- just pull the driver

There is a lot of talk about the ball flying too far on the PGA tour. People are saying the older courses are not being played as originally intended because pros are hitting thier drives clear over all of the intricacies that give the courses thier charecter.

Why not just require pros to pull the driver out of thier baga when playing certain old courses? Thus the three wood is the longest club. Most guys on the pga hit thier 3 wood around 260. Perfect.

In order to do this, the three wood would have to have basic maximum specifications: ie loft no lower than 14*, head no bigger than 200cc, length no ponger than 43". Plus the standard COR requirements etc already in place.

No one would have to adjust to the intricacies of a new shorter ball. Nor would such a ball need be designed and manufactured. No one would have to buy new clubs. Amatures can continue to play the exact same equipment as the pros if they like. There would just be 'driverless courses'. Hell, you could extend this rule to amatures for said courses if you like, arguably many people would be better off leaving the driver in the bag in some of these tighter courses anyway.

All other suggestions to mitigate distance require some sort of backstep in the techbology that we have all invested in and become used to.

This is an imperfect fix, but it is the most perfect fix to the apparent distance issue. What do you think?

Good idea...............but why?

Someone tell me why exactly we need to dial back distance? I've watched a decent amount of golf in my time and seen guys make bogey from pretty much anywhere and everywhere.

Why punish modern golfers for overpowering a course built several hundred years ago for a completely different era of golf?

That's called modernization of the game, and if the course couldn't keep up - I don't feel bad when DJ or Rory demolish it and shoot -20.

This change also won't improve the considerable advantage that the likes of DJ and Rory have over a Zach Johnson or Luke Donald. Their 3-wood will go a lot further than Zach or Luke's will. Not sure if you were going that route at all, but a lot of people in the past have complained about certain players distance advantage on the course.

In my opinion, if anything move the tees back. Or set the course up to play more difficult. Add a bunker here, a severely sloping fairway there, a blind tee shot or two.

I'm all for -2 winning a Major championship. Heck even +2 would be fun to watch. Watching Rory rip a rain soaked Congressional apart and win by 6 or 7 wasn't exactly must-see TV.

But at the same time, you can't turn a course into what Chambers Bay was 2 years ago, in a feeble attempt to protect it from a low score. Go about it in a strategic way - not by turning it into a barren dead wasteland.

Henrik Stenson is somewhere right now hoping this comes to be.

Im not prepared to defend the idea of dialing back on distance. However, it is apparent to me that some see it as a significant issue. Jack Nicklaus, a person of significant importance in the game, feels that the ball goes too damn far. Perhaps he/they feel golf would be more entertaining if it didnt. Perhaps he/they value in witnessing elite golfers competing on the same courses that the most elite did centuries ago using equipment that doesnt make the course significatnly easier to play. If you take the driver of his bag, dustin johnsons game becomes significantly more comprable to that of walter hagan and bobby jones. Maybe there is interest in value in that, given the fact that this is such an old game.

All Im saying, Is that if they must mitigate distance in some way, pulling the driver is probobly the best way to go about it.

IMO the best thing would be to make a "tour ball" that spins like the old balata's. Make the guys start playing shots again instead of the bomb and gouge game they are playing now.

crazy talk. All you have to do is grow the rough and firm up the greens. Look at the 13' US Open at Merion. It played under 7000 yards and +1 won the tourney! Pros play on firm fairways with minimal rough and soft-ish greens. If they would soften up the fairways, grow the rough up and get the greens rock hard no one would be worried about ball distance.

That's a really interesting idea. I would love to see this happen. It won't because pro golf is an entertainment industry and people in general want to see guys blast it. So the ones who succeed tend to be sluggers. Pro golf Darwinism...I'm afraid the distance genie is out of the bottle and the USGA has zero interest in doing anything about it.

In spite of all the propaganda about players being bigger, stronger, faster and better athletes, most of the guys on tour these days would be cleaning clubs in the pro shop if this were the 1970's. Pro golf required a very different skill set to survive. You couldn't just pound it into the weeds for years, get hot for a week and make millions. Guys like Miller, Nicklaus, Watson, Wadkins, Stadler and Trevino would eat your lunch money. Every f'ing week. The best of the best would adapt and find a way of course. They always do. But the game these days is very different and in my opinion not better. Ideas like yours are a step in the right direction.

And where does it stop? I'm 30 years old today. 50 years from now, if I'm still alive there will be some 19 years old kid with the space-age name like Zloofig who hits the ball 500 yards, partially because he is an amazing player, but also because the technology of his time allows him to do so.

So he's on in one on a par five at _____ legendary course.

Is that bs?

Also, I just realized I went from suggesting simply pulling the driver at certain courses to defending the idea of limiting distance 50 years from now...

IMO the best thing would be to make a "tour ball" that spins like the old balata's. Make the guys start playing shots again instead of the bomb and gouge game they are playing now.

 

Totally with you on this one.

Golf has had a two ball history before with the American Ball and the British ball. In 1974 the R&A made the American sized ball as the official tournament ball for The Open. But it wasn't until 1990 when the British ball was put to rest by the R&A. So having a tournament ball isn't really a foreign idea if you think about it.

Two pro's voluntarily dropped the driver from their bags in the recent Hero Indian Open.

One was Eddie Pepperell, who led after two rounds and the other was Gavin Green, who finished second. This was on a long golf course too.

I think banning the driver would ultimately penalise the shorter hitters not the longer ones.

The course designers and setup folks can 'make' courses play more difficult. The super low scores you see sometimes are for marketing. Some people like to watch tournaments where there are a lot of birdies, and scores go low. Others think the 'traditional' close to par is better. Either way, The rough and pin placements have a lot to do with it. I think the equipment is fine where it is.

Restricting golf clubs based on shaft length and loft would also be a minefield.

Someone who is 6'5" would claim they need a 3 wood with a longer shaft & how would you check loft? Bubba's 3 wood measures something like 16 degrees but thats when it sits about 6 degrees open. At impact

the square loft is less.

Courses made a mistake when they originally started dealing with modern length by making courses longer, adding tees and increasing maintenance and costs.

Shorter, tighter landing areas and more penal hazards would have worked better and we wouldn't be having conversations about driverless rounds and 80% golf balls.

Grace won at Harbour Town last year, a course that rewards accuracy, at -9. A course doesn't have to be closing in on 8000 yards to defend par or tinker with the basics of the game.

Well, I don't think the winner of the US Am would be too happy with a 35 yard loss of distance with the same swing when he tries to make it on tour

crazy talk. All you have to do is grow the rough and firm up the greens. Look at the 13' US Open at Merion. It played under 7000 yards and +1 won the tourney! Pros play on firm fairways with minimal rough and soft-ish greens. If they would soften up the fairways, grow the rough up and get the greens rock hard no one would be worried about ball distance.

You can definitely soften the fairways and grow the rough, but the greens are already rock hard and rolling 13+ on the Stimpmeter. If anything, make the greens softer so that players who have to hit lower lofted clubs can hold the green and have a chance at birdie too. The strongest golfers hit it so high that they can hold the green on just about anything, save Pinehurst No. 2 (except for you, Martin Kaymer!). Slower greens will make the putting harder too as speed becomes as important as the proper line (feel free to dispute me on this one, but I personally believe that, the faster the greens, the less important speed is).

Biggest problem is the USGA and PGA don't want a different set of rules/equipment for the pros and the average joes. Mainly, money. A lot of people buy drivers and balls solely because the pros play it. Also, it takes away from the common appeal of sports. People like all other sports because they can imagine trying to replicate the pros as close as possible.

More right angle doglegs. Bring out the 7woods with driver shafts.

Im not sure continuous and endless landscaping is the solution.

"Hey, you know that 300 year old golf course that just became irrelevant in the last 20 years? Well we made the golf balls super bouncy and the drivers have space age material now, so we are going to go ahead and bulldoze half of them and stretch them into land that doesnt exist.".........." Because titleist and taylormade"

Orrrrrrrrrrr

"Hey, give me your driver. Ok, go play"

Or, we could just change the driver limitations to 200cc and 43" max. Only steel can be used for the head. Basically thats a 1991 big bertha. Lets see them bomb and gouge with that. The only thing is that millions of people will be out $500 for thier latest driver. So i return to my original idea..... hey, give me your driver, now go play.

Im not saying all courses. Just the ancient shorter ones.

crazy talk. All you have to do is grow the rough and firm up the greens. Look at the 13' US Open at Merion. It played under 7000 yards and +1 won the tourney! Pros play on firm fairways with minimal rough and soft-ish greens. If they would soften up the fairways, grow the rough up and get the greens rock hard no one would be worried about ball distance.

The superintendant had a couple too many drinks the monday night before the tournament. He set the mower to 4 instead of 8. Now the grass is too short. Tournament cancelled? Because of grass?

Or do something about the bouncy balls and rediculous drivers.

When guy shoots +5 to win a US open: par is just a number

When guy shoots -21 to win a non-major: this is an abomination, distance is ruining courses, change the ball asap

Is par just a number or isn't it.

Someone tell me why exactly we need to dial back distance? I've watched a decent amount of golf in my time and seen guys make bogey from pretty much anywhere and everywhere.

It makes old courses obsolete to play and it makes new designs do goofy things. Then the rest of golf course industry follows suit and you see rounds take longer, courses that are more expensive to maintain and less people golfing.

I don't think we need to dial back the distance, we just need to make sure we don't allow technology to hit the ball any further than we are now.

RH

Henrik Stenson is somewhere right now hoping this comes to be.

Why are we obsessed with distance? Unless you're playing a course full of 450 yard+ holes that forces you to hit driver on every tee, the driver is only used a few times per round.

Golf is still a wedge-and-putter game at its core. If you arent good with either of those clubs, you aren't winning professionally, or playing well in general. Even the longest hitters have to use wedge and putter far, far more times than a tee shot.

I still remember Gary Player at one of his clinics:

"I'll play with the 18 handicap player tomorrow. He'll hit every drive, every second shot. I take over from there...and he'll be a 4 handicap."

Next sentence:

"I'll play with the 18 handicap player tomorrow. I'll hit every drive, and he'll take over. He'll be a 16 handicap."

crazy talk. All you have to do is grow the rough and firm up the greens. Look at the 13' US Open at Merion. It played under 7000 yards and +1 won the tourney! Pros play on firm fairways with minimal rough and soft-ish greens. If they would soften up the fairways, grow the rough up and get the greens rock hard no one would be worried about ball distance.

^^ This

Thick, long rough can go a long way towards keeping the scores down.

The ball is fine. The driver is fine.

Driving is a big part of the game. Those who excel at it shouldn't be punished. It's a tough skill to learn!

Growing the rough and setting up the courses more difficult just makes for boring golf imo. We have that for the US Open and I think that's enough.

I say limit the number of clubs to nine instead of 14. Makes it more difficult for pros to go low, but wouldn't make it any harder for the beginners. Brings backs touch shots. Very fun! At least I think so, I usually play a half set anyways, so I'm biased.

There is a lot of talk about the ball flying too far on the PGA tour. People are saying the older courses are not being played as originally intended because pros are hitting thier drives clear over all of the intricacies that give the courses thier charecter.

 

Why not just require pros to pull the driver out of thier baga when playing certain old courses? Thus the three wood is the longest club. Most guys on the pga hit thier 3 wood around 260. Perfect.

 

In order to do this, the three wood would have to have basic maximum specifications: ie loft no lower than 14*, head no bigger than 200cc, length no ponger than 43". Plus the standard COR requirements etc already in place.

 

No one would have to adjust to the intricacies of a new shorter ball. Nor would such a ball need be designed and manufactured. No one would have to buy new clubs. Amatures can continue to play the exact same equipment as the pros if they like. There would just be 'driverless courses'. Hell, you could extend this rule to amatures for said courses if you like, arguably many people would be better off leaving the driver in the bag in some of these tighter courses anyway.

 

 

All other suggestions to mitigate distance require some sort of backstep in the techbology that we have all invested in and become used to.

 

This is an imperfect fix, but it is the most perfect fix to the apparent distance issue. What do you think?

1. Will never happen, the Driver retail market is massive. New drivers are now $499. a really good set, 9 clubs, cost 1000 ish. Huge profit margins.

2. anyone see highlights of robert gomez holing on in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 1990.

178 yards.....................7 iron. 1990.

Players are hitting what, 8 irons 178 yards now, just not a huge difference.

I love this idea. I think it's a brilliant way to keep a few short, classic courses in the rotation.